Tony he is a dying man!!! No restarting this!!!

Fucking Tony rigging the match!!!

It is ring time!!!

ngl sudden death is kinda bullshit

both wrestlers knew the rules before the match started

sidenote: the medics rushing to the ring immediately after the match was a little much

Naw, MJF was angling to make sure it would not be restarted.

This is the most enthusiastic I've seen Tony Schiavone in some 25 years.

OMG not the ring!!! He is powerless now!!!

MJF is being booked like a total babyface in this match what with getting screwed by Tony Tunney and surviving all Bryan's best shots

Never mind

Mar 6, 2023 4:46:48 GMT c said:

OMG not the ring!!! He is powerless now!!!

i noticed that too

his pain level went from to immediately

Shit. Beaten with his own LeBell lock.

HE DID IT!!! MJF winning fair and square!!!

Pity he lost a star early on Would have been a five star match otherwise.

Mar 6, 2023 4:47:00 GMT Baker said:

MJF is being booked like a total babyface in this match what with getting screwed by Tony Tunney and surviving all Bryan's best shots

Mar 6, 2023 4:47:57 GMT Baker said:

Never mind

Has there been a heel who has gutsy babyface fire?

Except instead of pure willpower and determination to win he's fueled by sheer spite and refusal to give anyone the satisfaction of watching him lose?

Mar 6, 2023 4:51:33 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Has there been a heel who has gutsy babyface fire?

Except instead of pure willpower and determination to win he's fueled by sheer spite and refusal to give anyone the satisfaction of watching him lose?

Good question. Best I can come up with is Hogan/Flair at the August 96 Clash of Champions with a heel Hulk Up brought on by the power of the boos. Basically he fed off the crowd's hatred. No idea if that was a regular feature of heel Hogan matches or just a one off. Somebody who watched more late 90s WCW fill us in. Big Pete or Kilgore would know

So distraction during the ironman was that kid MJF threw water at when kind of nutty and AEW guys had to sneak out and smooth things over.

Seems the days of baiting fans then throwing them out are gone.

Amazing MJF doing the media scrum without calling out the roster and starting fights.

He is hilarious though telling the reporters he is not fucking mark, he the champion and a special attraction deserving of not getting beat up for no reason.

He is trashing reporters and fans for not believing in his ring work, but that is MJF.  

And some actually sincere stuff mixed in about how he wants to be the total package and not just someone who is good on the mic but cannot back it up.

Edit:  He is also walking out with a crutch to still sell the knee.

Ricky comes out and using Cody "So what do you guys want to talk about," line. Starks says he should have a title shot for beating Jericho. And MJF can crush him again <.<  Ricky basically shilling for himself saying he took the little time he had and made himself from it.  Basically doing a long promo here like MJF did with his.  And he is damn good in this role.  Has the realness of Kingston without the New York of Kingston.

No energy drinks for Tony on the desk.  He looks somber tonight.  Lad finally getting his role in these, he is looking like a boss so far.

Mar 6, 2023 4:57:43 GMT Baker said:

Mar 6, 2023 4:51:33 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Has there been a heel who has gutsy babyface fire?

Except instead of pure willpower and determination to win he's fueled by sheer spite and refusal to give anyone the satisfaction of watching him lose?

Good question. Best I can come up with is Hogan/Flair at the August 96 Clash of Champions with a heel Hulk Up brought on by the power of the boos. Basically he fed off the crowd's hatred. No idea if that was a regular feature of heel Hogan matches or just a one off. Somebody who watched more late 90s WCW fill us in. Big Pete or Kilgore would know

Hogan is such a weird example because even at peak Hulkamania he would rake the eyes of his opponents like a heel.

It took him awhile to adjust, the Flair/Hogan match is a good example but he also followed it up with a Giant/Hogan match where you'd swear Hulk was the conquering babyface. Later on, he started to act more cowardly and constantly look to choke his opponent out but he wasn't exactly Flair taking huge bumps.

Otherwise nobody really sticks out. Nash was the master at stretching out time and doing everything as slowly and effortlessly as humanly possible - they didn't call him Big Lazy for nothing. Diamond Dallas Page became a dog and pony show Raven style of worker with the Jersey Triad. Savage similarly relied more on dog and pony show antics with his three valets and Sid. Sid had to be the worst heel of all-time, even Mother Theresa would get booed wrestling him. Scotty was like a more dominant version of HHH and right as it appeared he'd slip, his valet would slip in a steel pipe and help turn the tables.

Hogan was a filthy cheater. Would chair people too.

Mar 6, 2023 4:57:43 GMT Baker said:

Mar 6, 2023 4:51:33 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Has there been a heel who has gutsy babyface fire?

Except instead of pure willpower and determination to win he's fueled by sheer spite and refusal to give anyone the satisfaction of watching him lose?

Good question. Best I can come up with is Hogan/Flair at the August 96 Clash of Champions with a heel Hulk Up brought on by the power of the boos. Basically he fed off the crowd's hatred. No idea if that was a regular feature of heel Hogan matches or just a one off. Somebody who watched more late 90s WCW fill us in. Big Pete or Kilgore would know

So many of the Hollywood matches run together in my mind, even I had to admit at the time they were mostly bad, remember him only occasionally Hulking Up. Didn't seem much rhyme or reason as to when. Matches would still end in a run in, anyway. But it was always fun in the moment. Oh shit. He's Hulking Up! Made you feel like a kid again.

That said, I'm going off memory of the time, would love to hear from someone who revisited that era of matches more recently than me. 

I just got back from AEW Revolution. The whole show was good from start to finish. Even the Pre-Show Match was really good. The only match that I was disappointed in was Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow. The reason is because that was my first time seeing Joe live and I wanted to see him win. Other than that, I had a blast.

Mar 6, 2023 5:37:36 GMT c said:

So distraction during the ironman was that kid MJF threw water at when kind of nutty and AEW guys had to sneak out and smooth things over.

Seems the days of baiting fans then throwing them out are gone.

This reminds me of a story of about Jeremy Shockey throwing water at a kid a long time ago, and sports media pointing out if they were the kid they'd be thrilled.

The Iron Match was exceptionally good. Everything was so tight in execution, you had unbelievable selling, great psychology, and it didn’t get boring. It was really exceptional. If it wasn’t for a few bits I thought looked over-choreographed, I’d 5 star it. Wrestling doesn’t get much better than that.

MJF's selling of the knee was amazing. He even came out to the scrum with a crutch. One of Bryan's best matches I seen. And IMO this solidifies MJF as one of the top guys in wrestling.

Hangman really has his work cut out for him following that up.

As much as I think MJF is slightly overrated as a promo, particularly this year where he’s really leaned on too much cheap heat, he is criminally underrated as a wrestler. He’s always a top 3 match on every show no matter his card placement.

Yeah, people forget that MJF first got noticed for being a rock solid wrestler first and foremost. His character is good, but getting old in AEW since they keep repeating the trials crap and giving him very little to work with.

I expect Double or Nothing he faces Hangman so at least they have history in AEW to pull from.

Oh shit, turned out the cup of water that MJF threw in the kid's face was tequila that someone snuck in, which then got in the kid's eyes causing him to freak out.

That’ll be a nice little pay off for the mother.

His family was the one who snuck it in, Tony is in the clear. MJf has no reasonable way of knowing that it was not the water being sold in those cups by the venue. They can try to sue, but US liability law favors the corporations and they will need to prove damages and MJF knew that the liquid would harm the kid.

Amanda Huber gave them some Acclaim stuff and it was all cool it seems.